Ibrox boss Caixinha has warned Aberdeen their time at the top is nearly over as they face losing key players this summer

The Rangers boss reckons McInnes cannot be faulted for the way he has turned his Dons into the second-best team in the country.

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He has made hay as the sun’s been shining in Aberdeen, while it’s been hosing it down in Govan.

But with McInnes’s men at Ibrox Wednesday night, Caixinha has pointed to the players the Dons are about to lose this summer and how his task is about to get tougher than ever.

Caixinha said: “I think at the moment they started the cycle of this project, Rangers were not in the Premiership. I think they really have taken good advantage of it because they were the second team in the country.

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“But if we can reduce the distance we will be looking for things to be different next season regardless of whether the difference is one point, three points or even if we are on the same points. I do believe that football is to do with cycles.

“Derek did a fantastic job, but I do believe that Aberdeen’s cycle is about to, not to end, but needs to be renewed in my opinion.

“Teams have cycles, teams have good cycles, three years or four years, when they are doing good, but I believe they need to change something. I am talking about the immediate side.

“When I analyse the teams we are going to play, I know that Ryan Jack is going to be out of contract. I hear that Niall McGinn is going south, you hear that maybe another couple of players may leave the club.

“It means that they need to have a new beginning, a new cycle and they need to make a new renewal.”

McInnes is unlikely to care much for Caixinha’s assessment of his team.

What he may find more interesting is the Ibrox manager’s rationale for putting Rangers ABOVE Aberdeen in a league table.

Caixinha added: “We looked at the last seven games of this season — starting with the last game against Aberdeen. We established with the boys that these seven games were going to be our domestic league, our internal league. We want to end up first in that.

“In this moment, we are one point below Celtic — and six points ahead of Aberdeen in that table. We have two more matches and we keep going.”

Back in the real world, Gers are six points BEHIND Aberdeen with two league games left to play.

With a poorer goal difference, Caixinha’s side cannot possibly leapfrog the Dons.

But the Portuguese still wants to close the gap as much as possible, adding: “It is important we always win. We saw a lot more about the process that we want to work regarding our style of play, our understanding of the game.

“Now we are six points behind Aberdeen, who are going to be our next opponents. Winning will keep us three points behind them. We will see what happens in the last match.

“They know we cannot get second position because of the difference of the goals, but at least we can reduce the difference regarding the points.”

Caixinha reckons he knows exactly what to expect from Aberdeen when they turn up at Ibrox.